Rosewill Thor v2: The God of Cooling and Silence?
by Dustin Sklavos on August 24, 2011 2:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Full-Tower
- Rosewill
Conclusion: Rosewill Comes Out Swinging
I'll make this clear: despite my quibbles with the case's build quality, Rosewill's Thor v2 made me a believer. The thermal and acoustic performance of this case just can't be understated: Rosewill has somehow managed to make $150 for an enclosure seem like a bargain. At this price point you'll have a very hard time beating the performance, and that's ignoring the stellar expansion and just general size of the thing. If you're looking for a full tower and don't want to spend up, Rosewill's engineers have produced an enclosure that hits a reasonable price point while not being particularly ostentatious.
Of course, there are some sacrifices to be made, because yes, that build quality may be problematic for some users. Most of the users on NewEgg seem very happy with the Thor v2, and I can see why, but the plastic used for the enclosure ultimately does feel pretty chintzy, and the mounting system used for the 5.25" drive bays needs a lot of improvement. The top vent doesn't feel that cheap, but it doesn't make sense either: there's no other way for that top fan to exhaust if it's not open. And then the rubber grommets in the motherboard tray aren't held on with any glue or anything at all, and they pop out at the slightest provocation.
Rosewill has a stellar rough draft with the Thor v2. Thicker, better building materials would be appreciated but aren't top priority: what they need to do is glue in the grommets, replace the 5.25" drive bay locks with more secure designs, swap the 5.25" bay shields with classic style "snap-in-snap-out" shields, and kill the hinged vent at the top of the enclosure entirely. While we're building a wish list, switching the USB 3.0 routing cables to a motherboard header would be appreciated, and I'd actually rather see a top-mounted hot-swap drive bay than an eSATA port if possible.
If you think you can deal with the rough edges of the design, or if you want the most case you can get for the least money, the Thor v2 should definitely be on your short list. Able to compete even with enclosures nearly twice as expensive, I'd actually take it over Thermaltake's Level 10 GT just due to the comparative ease of assembly coupled with the less garish appearance. It's a better performer both acoustically and thermally than Corsair's 650D or 600T, too, at roughly the same price. Rosewill's Thor v2 isn't a homerun, but it's a very solid base hit, and there's no reason to think one more revision couldn't make it a top flight enthusiast case.
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PA Systems1 - Sunday, June 23, 2013 - link
Considering the cooling, kitty would freeze his little butt off curled on top.geniekid - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
I want an FT02 for my upcoming build, but I may have to settle for this case instead. The FT02 looks so much nicer, but not $100 nicer.realjetavenger - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
Anyone else notice how similar this case is to the HAF X? The Thor has the moving top vents and a bottom mounted fan but otherwise in specs and appearance it is Rosewill's version of a HAF X.Onus - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
I have no doubt that the Rosewill case is superior to the HAF X. Almost every Coolermaster case I ever bought had untapped screw holes and poor tool-free mounts; most had minor panel misalignment and/or other QA issues. I've switched to Rosewill cases, and have not found any of these (admittedly trivial) issues with any of them.I'm not a fan of huge cases (I'm not a madd overclocker, and don't run 1kW of GPUs), but if I were, this Thor v2 would be on my short list. There would be no Coolermaster cases on it; as nice as their designs can look, they are not well executed.
f4phantom2500 - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
Maybe Cooler Master's quality has gone down since I bought my Centurion 5, but I haven't had any issues with it. Admittedly, I haven't used a Rosewill case, and every case I've used prior to the C5 was off-brand and ranged from acceptable-but-not-too-good to just bad. But in the review here he states that the 5.25" drive bay locks in this Rosewill case aren't very good; I actually really like the locks in my C5. Then again my standards are probably substantially lower than Dustin's. The only toolless element of the C5 that could use improvement, imo, is the expansion card clip holder things. They're not completely useless but I wouldn't trust them if I was putting in a robust (read: heavy and expensive) GPU and/or moving the computer around a lot.Khronikos - Sunday, August 28, 2011 - link
I disagree. In fact, I think CM has went up in quality more than down. I use a 690 ll advanced, admittedly not a top end, and I have no issues whatsoever. Sure, you might run into problems with any case but there are zero alignment issues or anything of the sort. I haven't run into tap problems but that could be an issue on any case and is remedied pretty easily. I like my minimalist case look better than the HAF as well. The Thor looks okay but really not my kind of case and way beyond my needs lol.Metaluna - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
I'm not in the market for a case like this, but I do like the top-mounted ports. I currently have a P182, which I keep on the floor. It has the USB ports sticking out at a right angle on the lower half of the front bezel, and when cables are plugged in, it's just way too easy to trip over them and pull out the cables or damage the ports. I actually broke one of the ports once this way. Fortunately Antec sells replacements, but I'd rather have the front ports up off the floor in a more protected position.ajlueke - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
I saw at the beginning of the review that you stated this arena was typically the forte of brands such as Antec, Silverstone, Corsair and Lian-Li. All those brands are represented as comparisons in your review, save for Lian Li. I was curious how this case compared to the lian Li offerings, particularily the TYR-X2000, or X2000F (USB 3.0 version.) I have been using the stateside version of the TYR-X2000 in the form of the ABD Canyon 695 for some time now, and was wondering how this case compared to the far more expensive Lian Li cases. Perhaps we'll see that in subsequent reviews?pandemonium - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
Just like Ferrari's and Lamborghini's don't like being smashed up just for an action scene, Lian-Li's don't like being subjected to pokes and prods by reviewers. >.<matt3D - Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - link
I saw this case at school today... lol, I got a free t shirt from newegg.